At least 170 children have died in the past year while sleeping with parents or an older child, a number that far surpasses drowning, long thought to be a leading cause of accidental child deaths, according to statistics released Wednesday by Texas Child Protective Services.

"That translates to one child dying every other day," said Patrick Crimmins, CPS spokesman.

After years of hearing anecdotes from CPS caseworkers and paramedics about such deaths, the agency instructed investigators to begin collecting data on these types of child deaths. Any time a child was believed to have been suffocated while sleeping — either when an adult or older child rolled over on the smaller child or the child was pushed against a wall — the child's case was tagged.

Suspected cases were sent to Austin where they were individually reviewed by investigators. None of the cases were criminally prosecuted because law enforcement officers found no reason to believe the children died from abuse or intentional neglect or homicide, Crimmins said.

Texas CPS officials began collecting the information to create a baseline of data about the problem and to begin bringing the issue to the public's attention.

Two weeks ago, CPS officials updated the computer form used by investigators logging child deaths to include whether the dead child was found in what authorities call a "co-sleeping" situation.

Although state officials would not release cause of death information in these specific cases, which occurred between Sept. 1, 2007, and Aug. 31, 2008, the same officials acknowledged that the primary danger in a co-sleeping situation is suffocation.

"We aren't saying how they died," Crimmins said, citing the agency's practice of not disclosing a dead child's name. "But we are saying they were co-sleeping when they died."

Majority under 3 months

In more than half of the cases this year, the infants died before they were 3 months old.

In one-third of the cases the children were between 3 months and 7 months old.

About 10 percent of the children were older than 6 months. The oldest child was 22 months.

CPS released basic information about a few of the deaths to give the public a better idea of the issue.

For example, on June 12, an infant boy in Baytown died when his mother and a 1-year-old, while visiting a relative, slept in a single twin bed.

On March 1, a 6-month-old in Houston died while sleeping in a bed with his 3- and 4-year-old siblings. The three were sleeping in two twin mattresses shoved up against a wall.

In San Antonio a 2-month-old girl died Aug. 12 while sleeping with her mother and two siblings.

The girl was found trapped on top of the box spring between the mattress and the wall.

Harris County had the most co-sleeping deaths in the state with 41, followed by Dallas County's 19.

Bexar County came in third with 17 and Travis and Tarrant counties each had 13.

Accompanying the numbers was an advisory to the public about how to safely sleep with a child. Some experts believe sleeping with infants creates a better bond with the child and state officials stressed they were not criticizing the practice.

"There are parents who believe in the value of co-sleeping," said Doug McBride, spokesman for Texas Department of State Health Services. "There are some pluses. There are some disadvantages."

CPS advised parents to not drink alcohol or take drugs, including prescription medication, beforehand.

Avoid any soft bedding, loose bed pillows, loose throw pillows, blankets, or any items which could suffocate an infant.

While states aren't required to report co-sleeping deaths, several have begun to do so.

"These are preventable deaths," said Edward Borges, spokesman for New York state's Office of Children and Family Services. "We knew that there would be controversy. We want people to talk about the issue."

Parents often bristle at the idea of the state telling them how to raise their children.

"We are not policing what people are doing in their bedrooms," Borges said.

But New York's study of the problem found that deaths happened most often on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, when parents are tired and may be more likely to be under the influence of alcohol.